Mechanisms of Chemical Defense

化学防御机制

• 批准号: 0324435
• 负责人: Charles Derby
• 金额: $ 30.64万
• 依托单位: Georgia State University Research Foundation, Inc.
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Continuing Grant
• 财政年份: 2003
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2003-08-01 至 2007-07-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=0324435&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Mechanisms; Chemical; Defense

There are cases in behavior and ecology of animals or plants repelling predators by chemical defense systems, sometimes by affecting the chemosensory reception of predators. Not much is known about the neural mechanisms by which such defenses work, and in particular how a single prey species may defend itself against more than one predatory species with divergent sensory systems and behaviors. The sea hare Aplysia is a shell-less marine mollusk related to snails, and apparently has two chemical defense systems that work against three kinds of predators, which are lobsters, sea anemones, and teleost fish. This project uses an innovative combination of biochemical, electrophysiological, behavioral and ecological approaches, and the animal is well known enough that molecular approaches are possible in the future. The defensive compounds will be isolated, and experiments will test among alternative mechanisms how these defensive compounds exert their effects on the three very different potential predators. Results will help understand an important mechanism of defensive behavior in the context of sensory neurobiology. The impact of this work extends beyond neuroscience to marine ecology, comparative physiology and biochemistry. In addition, the broader impacts include substantial undergraduate training in a lab with an excellent history of integrating education and training with research, and of including members of under-served groups.

在动物或植物的行为和生态学中，有一些情况是通过化学防御系统来击退捕食者，有时是通过影响捕食者的化学感受器。我们对这种防御机制的神经机制知之甚少，特别是一个单一的猎物物种如何保护自己免受一个以上具有不同感觉系统和行为的掠食者物种的攻击。 海兔是一种与蜗牛有关的无壳海洋软体动物，显然有两种化学防御系统，可以对抗三种捕食者，即龙虾，海葵和硬骨鱼。该项目采用了生物化学、电生理学、行为学和生态学方法的创新组合，这种动物已经足够知名，未来可能会采用分子方法。 防御化合物将被隔离，实验将测试这些防御化合物如何对三种非常不同的潜在捕食者发挥作用。研究结果将有助于理解在感觉神经生物学的背景下防御行为的一个重要机制。 这项工作的影响超出了神经科学，海洋生态学，比较生理学和生物化学。 此外，更广泛的影响包括在实验室进行大量的本科生培训，该实验室具有将教育和培训与研究相结合的优秀历史，并包括服务不足的群体的成员。